Röösli weighs up internal succession plan
Schachen/LU - The management of Röösli Sattelbau AG, the Swiss manufacturer of saddles, is focused on developing a succession plan ahead of time. In the medium term, Urs Röösli and his wife are considering placing the future of their life’s work in the hands of an internal constellation comprising long-standing employees.
Urs Röösli is looking for a suitable succession plan for his company Röösli Sattelbau AG. There will be no generational change in the family business. Instead of looking externally for a successor, the owner and managing director – the second generation of his family to lead the company – looks set to opt for an internal constellation.
As the 57-year-old stated in an interview with the newspaper "Luzerner Zeitung", he will look towards a dedicated team of long-standing employees to lead the company into the future. Röösli’s preference is said to be for this responsibility to fall on the shoulders on several people and "no longer just four, as was previously the case with my wife and me".
Instead, his mind has reportedly turned to three long-standing employees who work in the saddlery, administration and field service. Together, this trio would potentially be tasked with maintaining the company’s expertise and tradition. While Röösli points out that nothing has been finalized just yet, he concedes that "we are working on finding a solution. We don’t want the saddlery to simply disappear at some point in the future – it’s our life’s work".
The company has been located in Schachen in the canton of Lucerne since 1972. According to workshop manager Bruno Egli, it is probably the last remaining company in Central Switzerland that still manufactures saddles, 200 to 300 per year. Röösli Sattelbau employs ten people, including one apprentice. Its most important market is Germany, which is the destination for around a third of all the saddles manufactured by the company. Frederic Wandres, the German dressage rider, used Röösli’s Classic Pilatus dressage saddle on his way to winning the team gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
